Caldwell-Pope leads Dogs to upset of No. 12 Florida

UGA Beat Writer

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s one-handed slam on a break in the final minute put an exclamation point on a Saturday to savor for the Georgia men’s basketball team.

In a season where the Bulldogs have taken their lumps, Georgia’s 76-62 upset of No. 12 Florida offered a chance to display the other end of the emotional spectrum.

Nemanja Djurisic raised both hands in the air as he ran upcourt and soaked in the roar of the home fans among a crowd of 10,265 in Stegeman Coliseum after hitting a 3-pointer from the corner during a second-half Bulldogs run.

Georgia coach Mark Fox clapped his hands and pumped a fist to the crowd as he headed to locker room after the Bulldogs snapped a three-game losing streak, notched their third win over a top-15 team in his three seasons in Athens and bagged their biggest win of the year.

“It’s the best feeling ever,” Djurisic said. “It was crazy. It was great. People are happy. We expected it because we came determined to play and we really played hard throughout the whole 40 minutes. We needed this win to bring the confidence back. I’m glad it happened.”

Georgia (13-15, 4-10) pulled into a tie for 10th in the SEC with the morale-boosting win over the rival Gators.

“It kind of shows a sense of light,” senior guard Gerald Robinson said. “By no means did we ever think the season was over. We know it’s been a struggle. I’m proud of our guys, just everybody just continuing to fight.”

The Bulldogs never trailed in the game — the only tie was at 2-2 — and the Bulldogs actually led before the opening tipoff, when Florida was slapped with an “administrative technical foul” when Casey Prather dunked the ball during warmups.

“In college, I think I’ve only seen it only once or twice,” Fox said.

Georgia went up 2-0 after two Robinson free throws that followed the technical to set the tone for what was to come.

The Bulldogs, who entered shooting an SEC-worst 37.5 percent in conference play, shot 52.9 percent from the field, their best showing in SEC play this season.

Florida cut a 16-point Georgia lead to five with under two minutes to go but Caldwell-Pope’s dunk with 48 seconds left made it 73-62. Florida’s Patric Young was called for a flagrant foul on the play and Georgia tacked on three more points for the final margin.

Florida (22-7, 10-4) could have clinched a bye in the SEC tournament with a win.

Fox was told after the game that most probably didn’t give his team a chance given the records and rankings of the teams.

“How much you think they’ll give us on Thursday?” Fox said with a wink.

That’s when the Bulldogs play at No. 1 Kentucky, which has won 51 straight games at Rupp Arena.

“I told Mark after the game that I really appreciate the job he’s done, because when you’re 3-10, you can get beaten down and lose your fight, but (Georgia) fights all the time … not just tonight … they do it all the time,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “ I have a lot of respect for their team and their kids, and I was happy for them.”

Florida routed Georgia 70-48 in Gainesville in January, when only one Bulldog reached double figures.

The Bulldogs this time had five players score in double figures for the first time all season led by Caldwell-Pope’s 18 and Robinson’s 15. Djurisic added 12 and Donte’ Williams and Dustin Ware, coming off the bench for the first time since Jan. 10, had 11.

“We had a lot of guys play well,” Fox said. “We had a lot of guys play determined today. We’ve talked a lot about the right way to play and playing with determination. Late in the year sometimes it’s hard to find that extra energy but today we were able to dig in and find it.”

That determination showed up on the defensive end.

Florida, which entered leading the nation in 3-pointers per game, had season lows in 3-pointers (5) and 3-point percentage (21.7). Freshman Bradley Beal led the Gators with 19 points.

The Gators shot 36.7 percent for the game and the SEC’s highest-scoring team was held 16 points below their season average.

Williams had six blocks, Caldwell-Pope had four steals and Ware had three steals.

“I thought our defense was very good,” Fox said. “We had our hands on a lot of balls. We were really able to cover pretty effectively. That’s against a very good offensive team.”

Georgia started the 6-8 Djurisic alongside the 6-9 Williams and 6-7 Marcus Thornton in the frontcourt.